Theos-Talk Archives (May 2006 Message tt00744)

Monday, May 22, 2006

Dear friends:

On this subject I found:

"Sri Sankaracharya, the greatest Initiate living in the historical ages,
wrote many a Bhashya on the Upanishads."

"This sect, founded by Sankaracharya, (which is still very powerful in
Southern India) is now almost the only one to produce students who have
preserved sufficient knowledge to comprehend the dead letter of the
Bhashyas. The reason of this is that they alone, I am informed, have
occasionally real Initiates at their head in their mathams, as for instance,
in the "Sringa-giri," in the Western Ghats of Mysore"
	Secret Doctrine, Vol. I, page 271-2:



SHANKARACHARYA  &  BUDDHA
===========================

HPB writes:

“Sri Sankaracharya, the greatest Initiate living in the historical ages, 
wrote many a Bhashya on the *Upanishads*. But his original treatises, as 
there are reasons to suppose, have not yet fallen into the hands of the 
Philistines, for they are too jealously preserved in his *maths* 
(monasteries, *mathams*). And there are still weightier reasons to believe 
that the priceless Bhashyas (Commentaries) on the esoteric doctrine of the 
Brahmins, by their greatest expounder, will remain for ages yet a dead 
letter to most of the Hindus, except the *Smartava* Brahmins.”
	(Secret Doctrine Vol I page 271.)

============================================

	QUESTION:

"Historically the Buddha is said to have reincarnated as Shankaracharya, who
reformed Brahmanism on the West cost of India among the Smartava brahmins
with a chief Mutt (vihara or teaching temple ?) was founded by him in
Sringeri in the Western Ghats, near Coorg, Mysore. "
-------------------------------------------------------------------


	An ANSWER:

A student suggests:

With regards the Buddha reincarnating as Sankaracharya, have a look at HPB's
article, "THE MYSTERY OF BUDDHA", BLAVATSKY, Collected Writings, vol XIV,
pp. 388-399. It is probably also worth reading her previous article "THE
DOCTRINE OF THE AVATARS" in the same work.  The connection between these two
personages is also described in ESOTERIC BUDDHISM, by A. P. Sinnett.

As one might understand HPB:

Sankara, she avers, is a Buddha and an Avatar, but HPB does not
categorically state that he was a reincarnation of Gautama the Buddha, as
such.  She uses the word ’overshadow.’

HPB explains that each of our principles has its essence in, and is
therefore derived from, one or another of the seven primordial Celestial
Principles – i.e.,  the ‘head’ and essence of each principle is that of the
hierarchy of Dhyan Chohans and Dhyani Buddhas (S D  I  570-574).

Thu, it appears one could say that when the Gautama Buddha ‘entered Nirvana’
the essence of each of those principles had been perfected and united by
him.  It is these perfected “remains” or ‘aggregates,’ (skandhas)  which a
Buddha uses to continue his work on earth.  It is, one might say,  a kind of
Bodhisattvic 'body,' a 'spiritual form'.

In the MAHATMA LETTERS (Barker Edition, p 43, Letter ix) we find the Master
writing.  

When Gautama: -- 

"reached first Nirvana on earth, he became a Planetary Spirit; ie - his
spirit could at one and the same time rove the interstellar spaces IN FULL
CONSCIOUSNESS, and continue at will on Earth in his original and individual
body.  For the divine Self had so completely disfranchised itself from
matter that it could create at will an inner substitute for itself, and
leaving it in the human form for days, weeks, sometimes years, affect in no
wise by the change either the vital principle or the physical mind of its
body." 	 M L p. 43


Now, presumably the Master is speaking of the period when Gautama  Buddha
still had a physical body (ie, "when [he] first reached Nirvana").   But it
seems to me it is also this "inner substitute" that HPB  is referring to in
her article above when she writes of the Buddha after death, saying that it
is: --

 "the Bodhisattva [the created inner substitute, the perfected inner
principles] that replaces in him [i.e.,  Gautama] the Karana Sarira, the Ego
principle and the rest accordingly."  (p391)  

I think a further clue is offered in Subba Row's article on the Seven
Principles and especially TARAKA RAJA YOGA.  HPB refers to this on page 157
of the SD, vol 1.  

The clue is in what Subba Row adds after giving the table:

".. the classification mentioned in the last column [ie that of Taraka Raja
Yoga] is, for all practical purposes connected with Raja Yoga... Though
there are seven principles in man, there are but three distinct Upadhis
(bases) in each of which his Atma may work independently of the rest. These
three upadhis can be separated by an Adept without killing himself.  He
cannot separate the seven principles from each other without destroying his
constitution."	S D  I  157


The Taraka Raja Yoga system has 				

PRINCIPLES	ESOTERIC BUDDHISM		   	 PLANE OF
CONSCIOUSNESS

--------------- ------------------------------
-------------------------------------

Atma, 		(the Higher Self)  				Turiya –
Samadhi  (Meditation)

Karanopadhi	The form of Wisdom  Buddhi.			Sushupti
(Deep sleep)

Sukshmopadhi	The form that combines emotion, desire and    	Swapna
(Dreams and Visions)
		the dual Mind (higher and  lower Manas) 

Sthulopadhi	The physical; and astral forms combined 	Jagrat
(Waking  consciousness)
		with Prana – life-energy

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------

We might note in passing that these three correspond to the triple scheme of
evolution mentioned earlier on in the SD, ie the 

1	spiritual (monadic), 

2	mental and 

3	physical (see SD I 181) 


and thus they also refer to the three main celestial hierarchies of 

1	Dhyani Buddhas,   ( see S D I  570 -575)

2	Agnishwattas (solar pitris --- higher manasic, Buddhi-Manas in man),
and 

3 	Bharishads (lunar pitris --  psychic, kamic, lower manasic nature in
man).  


As one might understand it, not only may an Adept separate and use any one
of his upadhis (vehicles) independently of the rest, in addition and in
order to help humanity; but he may also use or associate one of those
upadhis with chelas under his direct instruction.  Presumably, he is able to
do this through the celestial hierarchy associated with the upadhi in
question.  If correct, this would provide enormous scope to the
compassionate and wise Adept influence on all planes.

It would seem,  in the case of a Buddha, after the death of his 'body” and
after 'he' had refused to enter Nirvana.  (VOICE, pp. 72-79) that it is
these three perfected Upadhis which are referred to by some as 'the astral
remains.'

In the case of a Buddha these are collectively referred to as 'the mind born
son,' the Bodhisattva, of the full Buddha (BCW, XIV, 391).  This may then be
used to help humanity, if Karma permits, after the Buddha has (apparently to
us) “entered Nirvana,” or as the Master puts it, after he has become a
Planetary Spirit, and, as necessary, has developed the faculty of  being
able to rove (in consciousness)  interstellar spaces at will, leaving behind
in all cases, an inner living substitute of himself. 

In the case of Gautama and Sankaracharya, as HPB puts it:

"Samkarâchârya was reputed to be an Avatâra, an assertion the writer
implicitly believes in, but which other people are, of course, at liberty to
reject. And as such he took the body of a southern Indian, newly-born
Brâhman baby; that body, for reasons as important as they are mysterious to
us, is said to have been animated by Gautama’s astral personal remains. This
divine Non-Ego chose as its own Upâdhi (physical basis), the ethereal, human
Ego of a great Sage in this world of forms, as the fittest vehicle for
Spirit to descend into."

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LIST  OF AVATARS 
================

7 Very curiously the Druses identify their H'amsa with Hemsa, the Prophet
Mahomet's uncle, who, they say, tired of the world and its deceitful
temptations, simulated death at the battle of Dhod, A.D. 625, and retired to
the fastnesses of a great mountain in Central Asia where he became a saint.
He never died in spirit. When several centuries after that he appeared among
them it was in his second spiritual body, and when their Messiah had, after
founding the brotherhood, disappeared, Se-lama and Boha-eddin were the only
ones to know the retreat of their Master. They alone knew the bodies into
which he went on, successively re-incarnating himself--as he is not
permitted to die until the return of the Highest Messenger, the last or one
of the ten avatars. He alone--the now invisible but expected one--stands
higher than H'amsa. 
9 In the Druse system there is no room for a personal deity, unless a
portion of the divine impersonal and abstract wisdom incarnates itself in a
mortal man. 
The deific principle with them is the essence of Life, the All, and as
impersonal as the Parabrahm of the Vedantins or the Nirvana State of the
Buddhists, ever invisible, all-pervading and incomprehensible, to be known
but through occasional incarnations of its spirit in human form. These ten
incarnations or human avatars, as above specified, are called the "Temples
of Ti-meam" (Universal Spirit).
	[ From LAMAS AND DRUSES  --  HPB Articles,  Vol.  III  p 281…]

3 And a most unsatisfactory term it is, as the Lamaists have no conception
of the anthropomorphic deity which the English word "God" represents. 

		GOD  --  "GOD-LIKE," and "DIVINE."

Fo or Buddha (the latter name being quite unknown to the common people) is
their equivalent expression for that All-embracing, Superior Good, or Wisdom
from which all proceeds, as does the light from the sun, the cause being
nothing personal, but simply an Abstract Principle. 
AND IT IS THIS THAT IN ALL OUR THEOSOPHICAL WRITING, FOR THE WANT OF A
BETTER WORD, WE HAVE TO TERM "GOD-LIKE," AND "DIVINE."
12 Rama, of the Solar race, is an incarnation of Vishnu--a Sun-God. [The
eternal, immortal 

In "Machha," [Fish]  or the first Avatar, in order to save humanity from
final destruction (see Vishnu Purana) that God appears to King Satyavrata
and the seven saints who accompany him on the vessel to escape Universal
Deluge, as an enormous fish with one stupendous horn. To this horn the King
is commanded by Hari to tie the ship with a serpent (the emblem of eternity)
instead of a cable.
 The Talay-Lama, besides his name of "Ocean," is also called Sarou, which in
Tibetan, means the "unicorn," or one-horned. He wears on his head-gear a
prominent horn, set over a Yung-dang, or mystic cross; which is the Jain and
Hindu Swastica. 
The "fish" and the sea, or water, are the most archaic emblems of the
Messiahs, or incarnations of divine wisdom, among all the ancient people. 
Fishes play prominently a figure on old Christian medals; and in the
catacombs of Rome the "Mystic Cross" or "Anchor" stands between two fishes
as supporters. "Dagh-dae"--the name of Zaratushta's mother, means the
"Divine Fish" or Holy Wisdom. The "Mover on the Waters" whether we call him
"Narayan" or Abatur, (the Kabalistic Superior Father and "Ancient of the
World") or "Holy Spirit" is all one. 
According to Codex Nazarećus, Kabalah and Genesis, the Holy Spirit when
moving on the waters mirrored himself--and "Adam Kadmon was born." 
Mare in Latin, is the sea. Water is associated with every creed. Mary and
Venus are both patronesses of the sea and of sailors--and both mothers of
Gods of Love, whether Divine or Earthly. The mother of Jesus is called Mary
or Mariah--the word meaning in Hebrew mirror that in which we find but the
reflection instead of a reality, and 600 years before Christianity there was
Maya, Buddha's mother, whose name means illusion--identically the same. 
Another curious "coincidence" is found in the selections of new Dalay Lamas
in Tibet. The new incarnation of Buddha is ascertained by a curious
icthumancy with three gold fishes. Shutting themselves up in the Buddha-La
(Temple), the Hobilgans place three goldfish in an urn, and on one of these
ancient emblems of Supreme Wisdom, shortly appears the name of the child
into whom the soul of the late Talay-Lama is supposed to have
transmigrated.”
“The Druses pronounce the name of that mystical locality "Ramdagon." It is,
then, highly probable that the word is an anagram, as shown by the author of
the "Commentary on the Apocalypse." It means ''Rama-Dagon,''14 the first
signifying Sun-God of that name, and the second "Dagon" or the Chaldean Holy
Wisdom incarnated in their "Messenger," Oannes--the Man-Fish, and descending
on the "Sons of God" or the Initiates of whatever country; those, in short,
through whom Deific Wisdom occasionally reveals itself to the world.”
“In the mystical system of the Druses there are five "messengers" or
interpreters of the "Word of the Supreme Wisdom," who occupy he same
position as the five chief Boddhisattvas, or Hobilgans of Tibet, each of
whom is the bodily temple of the spirit of one of the five Buddhas. Let us
see what can be made known of both classes.
		DRUZE HIERARCHY
The names of the five principal Druse "messengers," or rather their
titles--as these names are generic, in both the Druse and Tibetan
hierarchies, and the title passes at the death of each to his
successor--are:
(1)7 H'amsa, or "El Hamma," (spiritual wisdom) considered as the Messiah,
through whom speaks Incarnate Wisdom.
(2) Ismail--Ti-meami--(the universal soul). He prepares the Druses before
their initiation to receive "wisdom."
(3) Mohammed--(the Word). His duty is to watch over the behaviour and
necessities of the brethren;--a kind of Bishop.
(4) Se-lama, (the "Preceding") called the "Right Wing."
(5) Mokshatana Boha-eddin, (the "Following") named the "Left Wing."
These last are both messengers between H'amsa and the Brotherhood. 
Above these living mediators who remain ever unknown to all but the chief
Okhals stand the ten Incarnates of the "Supreme Wisdom," the last of whom is
to return at the end of the cycle, which is fast approaching--though no one
but El Hamma knows the day--that last "messenger" in accordance with the
cyclic recurrences of events being also the first who came with H'amsa,
hence Boha-eddin. 
The names of the Druse Incarnations are Ali A-llal who appeared in India
(Kabir we believe); Albar in Persia; Alya in Yemen; Moill and Kahim, in
Eastern Africa; Moessa and Had-di in Central Asia; Albou and Manssour in
China; and Buddea, that is, Boha-eddin8 in Tartary, whence he came and
whither he returned. This last one, some say, was dual-sexed on earth. 
Having entered into El-Hakim--the Khalif, a monster of wickedness--he
brought him to be assassinated, and then sent H'amsa to preach and to found
the Brotherhood of Lebanon. El-Hakim then is but a mask. It is Buddea, i.e.,
Bohaeddin they expect.9

		LAMAIC HIERARCHY
And now for the Lamaic hierarchy. 
Of the living or incarnate Buddhas there are five also, the chief of whom is
Dalay, or rather Talay, Lama--from Tale "Ocean" or Sea; he being called the
"Ocean of Wisdom." 
Above him, as above H'amsa, there is but the "SUPREME WISDOM"--the abstract
principle from which emanated the five Buddhas—
Maitree Buddha (the last Boddhisattva, or Vishnu in the Kalanki avatar) the
tenth "messenger" expected on earth--included. But this will be the One
Wisdom and will incarnate itself into the whole humanity collectively, not
in a single individual. But of this mystery--no more at present.
These five "Hobilgans" are distributed in the following order:
(1) Talay-Lama, of Lha-ssa--the incarnation of the "Spiritual" "passive"
wisdom--which proceeds from Gautama or Siddartha Buddha, or Fo.
(2) Bande-cha-an Rem-boo-tchi, at Djashi-Loombo. He is "the active earthly
wisdom."
(3) Sa-Dcha-Fo, or the "Mouthpiece of Buddha," otherwise the "word" at
Ssamboo.
(4) Khi-sson-Tamba--the "Precursor" (of Buddha) at the Grand Kooren.
(5) Tchang-Zya-Fo-Lang, in the altai mountains. He is called the "Successor"
(of Buddha).

“The "Shaberons" are one degree lower. They, like the chief Okhals of the
Druses, are the initiates of the great wisdom or Buddh Esoteric religion. 
This double list of the "Five" shows great similarity at least between the
polity of the two systems. 
The reader must bear in mind that they have sprung into their present
visible conditions nearly at the same time. 
It was from the ninth to the fifteenth centuries that modern Lamaism evolved
its ritual and popular religion, which serves the Hobilgans and Shaberons as
a blind, even against the curiosity of the average Chinaman and Tibetan. 
It was in the eleventh century that H'amsa founded the Brotherhood of
Lebanon; and till now no one has acquired its secrets!”
“The mysterious representation of the Deity appears in H'amsa, whose spirit
is said to guide them, and periodically re-incarnate itself in the person of
the chief Okhal of the Druses, as it does in the Guru-Kings of the Sikhs,
some of whom, like Guru Govind, claimed to be the re-incarnations of Nanak,
while the Dalai-Lamas of Tibet claim to be those of Buddha. 
The latter, by the way, are loosely called Shaberons and Khubilghans (both
in various degrees re-incarnations not of Buddha, the MAN, but of his
Buddh-like divine spirit) by Abbe Huc and others without any regard to the
difference in the appellation: El Hamma or H'amsa came from the "Land of the
Word of God." Where was that land? 
Swedenborg, the Northern seer, advised his followers to search for the LOST
WORD, among the hierophants of Tartary, Tibet and China. “
	HPB Articles,  Vol.  III  291 fn

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Best wishes,

Dallas





==================================================

-----Original Message-----

From: M. Sufilight
Sent: Sunday, May 14, 2006 8:30 AM
To: 
Subject: 

Sankara sought out leaders of other schools, in order to engage them in
debate

Hallo all,

My views are:

"Members of dependency-oriented cultures consequently find themselves vastly

preoccupied by the search for comfort and reassurance, which they don't
NEED, 
they are just used to it." 
(written by Idries Shah)


Blavatsky wrote about the ancient initiate Adi Shankara also known as
Shankaracharya.
I quote Bloavatsky from The Secret Doctrine Vol. I, page 271-2:

"Sri Sankaracharya, the greatest Initiate living in the historical ages,
wrote many a Bhashya on the Upanishads."

"This sect, founded by Sankaracharya, (which is still very powerful in
Southern India) is now almost the only one to produce students who have
preserved sufficient knowledge to comprehend the dead letter of the
Bhashyas. The reason of this is that they alone, I am informed, have
occasionally real Initiates at their head in their mathams, as for instance,
in the "Sringa-giri," in the Western Ghats of Mysore"
(Taken from the original manuscript of the Secret Doctrine:
http://www.phx-ult-lodge.org/SDVolume_I.htm )

Taken from the Adwaita Vedanta Home Page:

"In addition to writing his own commentaries, Sankara sought out leaders of
other schools, in order to engage them in debate. As per the accepted
philosophical tradition in India, such debates helped to establish a new
philosopher, and also to win disciples and converts from other schools. It
was also traditional for the loser in the debate to become a disciple of the
winner. Thus Sankara debated with Buddhist philosophers, with followers of
sAm.khya and with pUrva mImAm.sakas, the followers of vedic ritualism, and
proved more than capable in defeating all his opponents in debate. "